HTLD vs. HUBG, JBHT, LSTR, MRTN, WERN, KNX, SNDR, HTZ, FRPH, and ODFL
Should you be buying Heartland Express stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Heartland Express include Hub Group (HUBG), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), Landstar System (LSTR), Marten Transport (MRTN), Werner Enterprises (WERN), Knight-Swift Transportation (KNX), Schneider National (SNDR), Hertz Global (HTZ), FRP (FRPH), and Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL).
Heartland Express vs. Its Competitors
Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) and Hub Group (NASDAQ:HUBG) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.
Heartland Express pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Hub Group pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Heartland Express pays out -17.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hub Group pays out 30.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Hub Group has a net margin of 2.65% compared to Heartland Express' net margin of -3.85%. Hub Group's return on equity of 6.81% beat Heartland Express' return on equity.
53.5% of Heartland Express shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.8% of Hub Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 40.7% of Heartland Express shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Hub Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Hub Group has higher revenue and earnings than Heartland Express. Heartland Express is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hub Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Hub Group had 8 more articles in the media than Heartland Express. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Hub Group and 1 mentions for Heartland Express. Heartland Express' average media sentiment score of 0.48 beat Hub Group's score of 0.11 indicating that Heartland Express is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Heartland Express presently has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 12.96%. Hub Group has a consensus target price of $38.46, suggesting a potential upside of 12.22%. Given Heartland Express' higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Heartland Express is more favorable than Hub Group.
Heartland Express has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hub Group has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Hub Group beats Heartland Express on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding HTLD and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Heartland Express Competitors List
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This page (NASDAQ:HTLD) was last updated on 10/7/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
